Excelsior Stan Lee – the man who taught us heroes come in all shapes and sizes bids adieu

When a friend told me Stan Lee, the giant patriarch of the Marvel universe had passed away, my first thought was whether they’d already shot his cameo for Avengers 4. Without a Stan Lee cameo, a superhero movie feels as incomplete as a burger without fries.

Stanley Martin Lieber, the son of Romanian-born Jewish parents, born in Manhattan and grown up in Bronx had a quintessentially American story. The son of an immigrant spawned one of America's most loved industry, leaving an indelible mark on the American and the world psyche. 

Many of his heroes, thanks to his upbringing, had a strong New York connection to the point it felt like Lee shared Martin Scorsese’s fetish for the Big Apple.

The kid who dreamt of writing The Great American Novel instead ended up creating a diverse range of characters who not only mainstreamed superheroes but gave Hollywood a never-ending golden goose which would make Mamon envious.  The success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a replication of Stan Lee’s comicbook world where all characters – from gods to street-level thug beaters – inhabited the same universe has become so popular that it has grossed over $15 billion, more than Star Wars, Harry Potter and the Bond franchise.

Few American giants – perhaps only songwriter Bob Dylan and creator Steve Jobs - have left such an indelible mark on the world, their creations the vehicles of their immortality.Stan Lee in collaboration with Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko co-created fictional characters like Spider-Man, The Hulk, Doctor Strange, the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Black Panther and X-Men. With his brother and co-writer Larry Lieber, he is credited for giving us Ant-Man, Iron Man and Thor.

Superhero movies, which used to get bottom-of-the-barrel actors have been elevated to an art form, drawing major thespians. Many of these characters have now been immortalised on celluloid. It’s hard to think of Iron Man, Hulk, Dr Strange without thinking of Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo and Benedict Cumberbatch.

Lee’s characters came in all shapes and sizes, his art spawned generations, particularly coming into its own in the flower power era of counterculture 1960s. Unlike the DC comics of his time, Marvel’s characters were so human they could be in any of us, grounded by flaws and frailties that made them unbelievably human.

Spider-Man could swing from buildings but still struggled to pay rent and be a good boyfriend. Daredevil, a devout Catholic struggled to reconcile his beliefs with his actions and was constantly horrified by his own lack of faith. Thor was a Norse god consumed by his greed. Bruce Banner, one of the smartest men in the world couldn’t control his anger issues.

The X-Men was a metaphor for bigotry against African-Americans with Magneto vs Professor X, comic’s answer to Malcolm X vs Martin Luther King Jr, the pivotal debate on whether one should use violence against their oppressors.

 Black Panther represented an African hero untouched by vagaries of colonialism, an answer to what could’ve been if White Man’s greed didn’t take over the world.

On the flipside of all this, you’d find a character like Tony Stark’s Iron Man, a weapons dealer and capitalist in the era of the anti-Vietnam protest. Lee and his collaborators loved pushing the envelope of what defined a superhero.

Of course, any article about Lee would need to point out the controversial nature of his creations. Lee like Jobs was the master of taking the spotlight, to the point that he’s credited for creating the entire Marvel stable much to the chagrin of co-creators like Jack Kirby.

Lee popularised what came to be known as the Marvel Method where a plot script is given to artists by the writer (most often Stan Lee) who proceeds to create page-by-page plot details following which the writer inserts the dialogue.

Lee explained the technique saying: “I had only to give Jack the outline of a story and he would draw the entire strip, breaking down the outline into exactly the right number of panels replete with action and drama.”
This particular method meant a certain segment of comic aficionados believe that Lee got the credit which should be due to the likes of Jack Kirby, Ditko, Don Heck and other Marvel artists.

However, taking credit away from Lee would be similar to denying Steve Jobs’ indelible impact on various industries. Just because Jobs didn’t write all the codes or designed the hardware doesn’t mean he didn’t create the Apple universe. Lee, even if he was more editor than the one writing the actual script, gave comics an identity hitherto non-existent.  

He was also a visionary who could imagine the entire stable of heroes sharing a universe whether it was Daredevil taking out street thugs, Iron Man trying out his new suit or Thor in Asgard. They were part of the same huge world, a comic’s answer to the Sistine Chapel.  

Comic historian Arlen Schumer believes that the Lee-Kirby partnership should have a 50-50 split in creation, something Lee wasn’t willing to do. He told the Daily Beast: “Artists like Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko created the ‘Comics’ —the power-packed visuals and dynamic storytelling that leapt off the page and into readers’ hearts and minds; but Stan Lee created the ‘Marvel’ —the voice, sounds, and self-aware, verbal joie de vivre that made Marvel Comics sing in the '60s.”  

That would make in every sense, Stan the Man as flawed as one of his own characters, petty, greedy and ultimately human.